LAST week it was revealed that The East and North Herts NHS Trust, which runs Lister Hospital in Stevenage, had reported more patient safety incidents than any other large acute Trust in the country. Bosses at the Trust took the firm stance that higher re

LAST week it was revealed that The East and North Herts NHS Trust, which runs Lister Hospital in Stevenage, had reported more patient safety incidents than any other large acute Trust in the country.

Bosses at the Trust took the firm stance that higher reporting rates point to a strong patient safety culture.

While the National Patient Safety Agency supports this view, I don't think chiefs at the Trust should be patting each other on the back and claiming a job well done.

The fact remains that there was an average of 11.08 incidents per 100 admissions between April and September last year. I think it's fair to say, therefore, that they are frequent occurrences.

It's true that almost 90 per cent of these incidents resulted in no harm to patients, but how long will it be before something serious happens?

Instead of congratulating Trust staff for reporting incidents in the correct manner, bosses should be concentrating on ways to avoid incidents occurring to start with.